Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/16/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  When I purchased this house the building inspection was supposed to completed and no issues with the house and any issues that arose they would have to return and fix. It appears as though no inspection had taken place at all the following are the big ticket issues.-a floor joist was cut too short and failed inspection from a different inspector -there was no main water shutoff valve installed on my water line The following are issues that aren't as major that never got taken care of.-wood cracked and separating on front door -ethernet for entire house wired incorrectly -missing shelfs in the refrigerator -switches that were wired incorrectly - crooked toilet paper despenser -multiple holes from improperly mounted cabinets

  Business Response

  Date: 07/17/2024

  To whom it may concern, the buyer simultaneously reported his issue to BBB and also put in a warranty request claim as well to our customer care department.  Our warranty team has a meeting set up with him on 7/19/2024.  We will respond to his complaints and issues once we inspect his unit. 

   

  Hartford Homes. 

  Business Response

  Date: 07/22/2024

  Attached is an email our **************** Manager has sent ***** after his warranty meeting on Friday.  For the record, ************ had never put a previous warranty request in for any of these issues before last week.  After meeting with him we are happy to address these issues and get them to conclusion.  We can only respond to requests that receive or know about.  

   

  We have a history with ************ as yelled expletives at our onsite sales managers weeks before closing, and we almost cancelled him before he moved in.  He has also been adamant that he doesn't want to communicate with Hartford, so we were shocked when we saw a warranty request come in from his address.  I assume that's why he put in this request to the BBB because he had already burned some professional bridges with our team, and we really didn't want him to close on the unit but did so against our best judgement. 

  At the end of the day, we would like to fix these issues and move forward. 

  We will follow up once we have resolution on all his **************** items. 

  Business Response

  Date: 07/25/2024

  To Whom it may concern,
  
  We are moving ahead with helping ************ finish the work items that he has listed in his complaint. ************ has been extremely hostile and not helpful during this entire process. He told me personally to ******** yesterday and has called our HOA manager a **** earlier in the year.
  
  After ************ moved into his unit a few years back, he told us to never enter his unit again, so its laughable that he now wants us to fix his issues because he is trying to sell his unit.
  
  With that said, we want to move forward and never have to deal with him again, so we are in the process of fixing his issues.
  
  Hartford will send another follow-up once the work is finished.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************
  President of Homebuilding

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/19/2024

  I recently filed a complaint about this company for issues regarding trusses that were cut too short and a water main shut off missing from inside the house. Following that they had agreed to come take a look at the failures of their builder and rectify the mistakes. I left a review of their company online and they haulted the work due to my review and interactions with their employees. After an individual called they refused to fix the structural issues and water shutoff. Their email shows they agreed to do the work due to the failures of the builder.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/20/2024

  To whom it may concern, 

  
  Regarding the truss:  Alpine Lumber and Weyerhaeuser Lumber representatives were on site with our ************* Manager and with ************ on or around Friday August 9th.  We gave him several documents from our experts that showed that that truss being cut the way that it was not a factor to the structural integrity of the home. He was grateful on site and took those physical documents.  ****** (************* Manager) followed up with him via email on this with the electronic documents for his records.  We consider this case closed and again are continually baffled by Mr. ***** behavior after we thought we already put this discussion to rest.  We will provide the documents in a follow up correspondence. 

  
  The water main: **************** third-party inspector originally pointed out that we needed to add a main water shut off in the crawlspace. Hartford contacted independent plumbing solutions, plumber of record for this building, and they mentioned that as long as there was a shut off water valve in the mechanical room, which ************ has access to; we did not need one in the crawlspace (which he does not have access being that he's on a second-floor condo).

  Our ************* Manager scheduled IPS to come out and visit with the homeowner and to verify there was a shutoff in the unit.  We found a main water shut off in the mechanical room and tagged it and labeled it as the main water shut off for his unit. Theres no need for a water shut off in the crawlspace. 
  
  Unfortunately, we believe ************ will continue on this warpath until he gets what he wants, a reaction from us. He continued with his nasty comments while ****** was on site, to which our ************* manager tolerated just to get the work done.

  Hartford is done communicating with ************ and will not be performing any of the following fixes that he is requesting. 

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/08/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We purchased a new home and closed in October of 2021. A few month later we started having problems with our electrical blowing fuses. The initial issue was mostly our refrigerator. After 6+ electricians being sent out, Hartford required us to pay an appliance company to verify the appliance wasnt the issue, we did, it was not. Hartford then agreed to replace the fuse for the fridge to a different style. We then continued to have issues with other circuits throughout the house blowing when very little power was being pulled. Hartford continued to send out electricians who all acknowledged there was a problem, but no one fixed. After almost 18 months of going back a forth with no resolution they told us they are not responsible for the issues because we finished our basement and used a different licensed electrician. We completed our basement 6 months after the electrical issues began and the basement passed all inspections.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/28/2023

  To whom it may concern:

  Hartford Homes is willing to send an additional electrician to the homeowners house that does electrical work for us in other communities to trouble shoot and offer a second opinion, or assess if we can find an alternate solution.

  Hartford and the current electrician at North Ridge Trails has been out multiple times to the homeowners house, and we have not been able to finalize a solution.  With that said, Hartford is adamant, that the home in question is code compliant and safe, even though the buyer is experiencing a large number of "nuisance arch fault tripping" of their arc fault breakers.

  For a little bit of background, the 2020 *** ****************** Code) implemented significant changes to arc fault/GFI requirements throughout single family homes Nationally.  Most electrical component manufacturers as well as, as well as all manufacturers of appliances were not prepared for these changes in the associated issues they have caused.  That being said, improvements have been made over the last three years, even though we continue to have a large amounts of complaints due to arch fault tripping. 

  Hartford feels and believes that obtaining a second opinion should help.  

  Also, we would like to note, as the buyer has referenced, Hartford Homes clearly advises homeowners to wait on finishing their basement for at least one year, in order to let our warranty period run it's course on issues that this homeowner is experiencing.  The homeowner, self admittingly , has finished their basement six months into their occupancy, which is complicating the situation.  We cannot and will not warranty work performed by a homeowner after closing, and usually, as is standard in the homebuilding industry, large projects such as a finished basement, can and will void certainty as there is just no possible way for us to delineate between our work and the work completed outside of closing.  This was explained to the buyer at closing.  

  On a side note, the homeowner, has told us in email (attached) that he is very happy with our services throughout the entire build of his home.  The homeowners animosity, is directed solely at our electrician of record.  The finished basement is again complicating this issue and it was the buyer who finished the basement, not Hartford. 

  With that said we will send another electrical contractor out to trouble shoot and hopefully solve the homeowners issues. 

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/25/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Purchased a home from Hartford. This house is a lemon. I asked for some changes in the beginning on carpet pad was told no. There has been all types of issues. Paint inside and out not done correctly. My ceiling has been painted 3 times due to paint not matching. There is always an argument with them about fixing something. Garbage disposal had to be replaced by me due to paint being dumped down it. When that was replaced the Plummer said it was not even done proper or tightened and we had a small leak. Had to replace the faucet also. We had an issue on the stairs that they forgot to strap the metal pieces so they tore into our wall to fix. The repair was not great and paint does not match. We had electrical issues in basement bedrooms. The lights are LED and would not work . when repair person came, the caps on the wires had fallen off so we had exposed wire, they said that was a fire hazard. We have a room in the basement that is freezing. No solutions on that other than I do not think they insulated well. All doors in this house do not fit right. You close a door, you can see light through all sides and top and bottom of door. Some bottoms of the door are cut close to the floor others are higher. We were not told about a sewage pump until the day of closing and was told that only affected the basement bathroom and will go off depending on usage. It goes off all the time no one is even using the basement. We had pipes left off and unsealed that had to be fixed and should of been caught at inspection and was not. Had to replace the oven in this house it quit working 3 days after warranty ended. Again electrical people who came said we had lose wiring. That concerns me about the rest of the house.I was told they would grade our yard in the spring. Once spring came and I asked was told no. I have a disabled daughter and if I known they were not going to change some of the grade I would of never bought. Quality very poor for price paid.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/03/2023

  
  To the BBB and whom it concerns:
  
  Hartford Homes has an extensive history with ***** ***********,
  and we have had multiple touchpoints with her and her daughter over the phone,
  email, and through our detailed warranty program since she purchased a home
  with us back in September of 2021.

   Mrs. *********** originally purchased a home
  with Hartford before September 2021, and came back to us to purchase for a
  second time, even though she has self admittingly
  told us and our staff that this home was a stretch for her. 

  The first piece of documentation attached is our sales
  contract with Mrs. *********** and our warranty manual.  These documents were given to Mrs. ***********
  at the point of sale and both these documents are standard operation procedure
  for Hartford as they are explained thoroughly at the time of contract and
  throughout the processes of building a Hartford Home.

  We’ve also attached all our conversations to this email that
  we have had with ***** and her daughter (******** ***********).   We
  have labeled the correspondence based on her claim that her house is a “lemon.” 

  
  Carpet Pad- ***** claims that she was unhappy about not being able to upgrade the carpet pad. Unfortunately ***** bought her home with Hartford as an inventory home, which means that the home was already under production and no changes were allowed to be made.We allow buyer who purchase “dirt start” homes, or homes that have not been permitted to select their options from the beginning. This house unfortunately, was not a dirt start. Our sales and construction staff verbally alerted her to this and ***** moved forward with the house purchase anyway, knowing that we she could not change the carpet. After we told her no she could have elected to not purchase the home, but she moved forward anyway.
  Our expectations were clear from
  the singing of the contract, and we are not sure why she is bringing this up in
  her compliant.
  
  Paint not completed correctly inside and out-
  As it relates to the ceiling paint, as the attached documents detail, we have painted the interior of the home three times which we eventually deemed as satisfactory per NAHB guidelines. We also painted her entire exterior of her house again because she claimed it was “dirty." This was above and beyond anything that we should have done and it we did it to make her happy and go above and beyond.
  
  Garbage Disposal having paint in it-
  Hartford had her garbage disposal tested three different times by three different plumbing inspectors. On the 16th of February 2022, we sent Mrs. *********** a response (see attached). We asked Mrs. *********** to send us a photo or documentational video outlining the issues she is experiencing, and we never received feedback or a response from her. We would like to point out in response to Mrs. ***********’ s comment about the disposal not being properly installed with small leaks, again we had three different inspectors come out and none of them commented on this issue to our knowledge.
  
  Faucet needs to be replaced-
  As it stands today, Mrs. *********** neither told us or submitted any type of warranty claim about her faucet and its quality. In the event the faucet was not performing up to our standards we would have inspected it.Buyers are more than welcome to replace faucets after moving in and some decide to do so as they choose to upgrade their faucet with an after-market product after closing.This is completely up to the buyer and based on their personal preferences. Again- we have not documented or received any warranty requests as it relates to the faucet.
  
  Metal pieces not strapped so wall was tearing up-
  The Stair Strap issue was identified and inspected on March 31st 2022 and corrected and completed on April 20th 2022 (See attached email).In the email Mrs. *********** also gave us kudos to our team and complimented the fixes so we are baffled why she is bringing this up. Again, we gage customer service by how we react to issues and how promptly and we fix them. Our warranty program is set up to help identify quality issues and we partner with the homeowner to fix them. Fixes are common in all new home construction homes.
  
  Electrical Issues with LED lights in the basement-
  Based on Mrs. ***********’ s comments, We do have an email from her dated January 25th, 2023 through our warranty portal claiming that an electrician that she hired to help replace her stove, claimed that there was loose wires throughout the house (See attached).Our customer care department was instructed to reach out to Mrs. *********** and asked her if we would like an inspector to come to address her issue. She has not responded, and this ticket is still open.
  
  Room Freezing in basement-
  Per the attached document, in April of 2022.We have given her suggestions how to mitigate the cold area and we have also offered to inspect the cold room. Ultimately, we have been denied access to investigate the claim numerous times and we have yet to have ***** take us up on that offer. If she would like us to investigate this issue, we need her to allow us to have access to the home.
  
  Doors not fitting correctly in the basement-
  All the interior doors are installed per industry standard and specs. Per the attached documentation, any of her concerns as it relates to interior doors in specific areas were addressed and accepted per our New Home Demonstration and Welcome checklist (see attached).All doors that were brought to Hartford’s attention were addressed in March of 2022 and were all signed off on by the homeowner.
  
  
  Sewage pump in the bathroom-
  Yes, this home did require a sewer injection pump due to the city sewer elevation coming into the house. We cannot comment or offer a response to her comment that she never knew about it until the day of closing New Home Demonstration.
  
  She
  may not have been alerted to this fact before the day of the NHD.   Usually, buyers are given the opportunity to
  walk through the house before our New Home Demonstration and apparently this
  didn’t happen. 
  With that said, a sewage pump is a
  common occurrence in many homes and has nothing to do with the quality of the
  home and serves to ensure that home functions to standard practices. The pump
  does go off occasionally, as the floor drain flows into the injector pit, which
  will cause the pit to periodically run.
  This is due to the fact, that today’s
  HVAC’s and cooling equipment continually produce condensate which continually
  drain.
  
  Pipes left unsealed-
  We cannot comment on this issue as we have no documentation in our warranty portal about this issue and we’ve never received correspondence on it. We welcome the chance for Mrs. *********** to provide more detailed information on what pipes were fixed.
  
  Oven being replaced-
  Hartford Homes and most national and local builders in Colorado do not directly warranty appliances in new home construction. This is done through the manufacture, and in Mrs. ***********’ s case, her appliances were warrantied through ********* Appliances.
  On February 16th, we received
  a email from Mrs. *********** that she was not happy with her range/stove, and
  she would have never bought from us if she would have known this prior.  Again, we do not provide the appliance
  warranty, but we are always happy to assist in helping homeowners with the appliance
  manufacturer.  
  In the event she asked us to help
  with her appliance warranty, we have gladly helped her contact and facilitate working
  with the manufacturer. Additionally, we feel Mrs. *********** probably never registered
  her appliances with the manufacturer (which is required of the homeowner to preserve
  the warranty after closing). 
  Rear yard grading-

  
  In order to obtain an Certificate of Occupancy, we are required to have a licensed engineer verify and certify the grading is in compliance with the development documents which was done. Seldom, do we ever regrade a yard, and this item was never documented or submitted on a official Hartford warranty document.

  
  We would also like to point out a few points as well to
  provide some additional context.   At Hartford Homes, as we have alluded to earlier,
  we are a home builder and building homes is one of the only products that is
  built “live or in person” in front of the buyer. 
  Hartford prides itself in setting proper expectations before
  the sale, after the buyer has contracts, and after a buyer has closed on their
  home.

  
    One of the biggest
  expectations we drive homes is that building a home is a process, and during and
  after the closing, no house is 100% perfect.  Hartford has created a detailed warranty process that we believe is one
  of the best in the state of Colorado. 
  All of our repairs, and processes are based on the NAHB national
  guidelines  and we unfortunately do tell
  buyers no sometimes as their fixes fall outside of Colorado standard specifications
  for new home construction.
  In relation to Mrs. ***********’ s house, there were many
  instances where she has made claims that were not true or over sensationalized. 

  For example, Mrs. *********** posted a google review on in December
  of 2021.  In this post, she claimed that
  we were delayed in delivering and closing on her home. 
  All dates at closing are a projection and our contract
  states this clearly.  With that said, we
  have attached a deal sheet that was sent into the office the day of the sale,
  which predicted the correct month of closing in with Mrs. *********** closed.
   This example is just
  a small reason why we have decided to stop contact with Mrs. *********** as she
  usually twists the truth about what was said or forgets about previous
  conversations. 
  Again- Hartford feels like we have spent numerous hours with
  Mrs. *********** on the phone and through email and onsite. 

  We admittingly did not respond to Mrs. ************* letter
  that she sent to the Hartford office in November off 2022, as we are not sure
  what she is exactly looking for in “communication” and we believe that have
  worked with her and have provided adequate solutions to all her issues.  We are not completely sure what she is
  wanting from us besides a chance to voice her complaints again on issues we’ve
  already fixed. 

  
  Mrs. *********** has had full access to our VP of Construction
  and the personal cell phone number of Jon T******** and they both had conversations
  for multiple hours at various times after her closing.   
  
  Please review the email dated April 20th, 2022
  stating how completely satisfied she was with the house and everyone at
  Hartford.  Since then, we have had one
  small warranty ticket from Mrs. *********** in June again, we are not sure why
  a complaint was filed.